A Blog designed for discussion of topics related to, but not limited to, Circus, Zoos, Animal Training, and Animal Welfare/Husbandry. Sometimes opening up the dialog is the best starting point of all. And if for nothing else when people who agree and don't agree, get together and start discussing it, it will open up a lot of peoples minds. Debate and discussion even amongst themselves opens a window where there wasn't one before.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

LOS ANGELES - The elephant
exhibit at the Los Angeles Zoo can remain open, but zookeepers must give
its three resident pachyderms two hours of daily exercise and refrain
from using bull hooks and electrical shock to control them, a judge has
ruled. "YOU FOLKS CAN KEEP YOUR HORSES, BUT YOU MUST EXERCISE THEM FOR TWO HOURS DAILY, AND YOU MUST REFRAIN FROM USING HALTERS, LEAD ROPES OR ANY OTHER PHYSICAL MEANS OF CONTROLLING THEM!!!! HAVE FUN, AND ENJOY YOUR FRUITLESS DAY."
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Segal issued a 53-page
decision Monday in a longrunning lawsuit that pitted the zoo against
real estate agent and animal rights advocate Aaron Leider.
Leider was seeking a court order shutting down the Elephants
of Asia exhibit. Segal stopped short of that but was sharply critical of
conditions at the multimillion-dollar exhibit, which opened in 2010 and
replaced the old elephant showcase.
"All is not well at the Elephants of Asia exhibit at the Los
Angeles Zoo," he wrote. "Contrary to what the zoo's representatives may
have told the Los Angeles City Council in order to get construction of
the $42 million exhibit approved and funded, the elephants are not
healthy, happy and thriving."
Segal found that the ground the elephants walk on is "hard
(rather than) varied and soft, and that the substrate of the exhibit
creates a risk of injury to the elephants' joints, feet and nails." He
directed that the soil be "turned or rototilled regularly." "I IMAGINE THE JUDGE HAS A LONG HISTORY AND KNOWLEDGE OF CROP ROTATION AND LAND MANAGEMENT, GIVEN HIS YEARS AS A FARMER AND RANCHER."
The judge heard closing arguments in a six-day, non-jury trial on June 25, then took the case under submission. Leider's attorney, David Casselman, said that despite the zoo's claims that Elephants ofAsia is six acres in size, most of that space is devoted to the public and only about a third is left for the pachyderms.

"This decision clearly
recognizes the remarkable failings of the Los Angeles elephant exhibit,"
Casselman said. "We would hope that the mayor and the city council
would welcome this infusion of objective fact-finding and take this
opportunity to reconsider their decision to continue the longstanding
suffering of elephants at the zoo."
Zoo spokesman Jason Jacobs said officials are pleased the
judge did not close the exhibit. He also said the elephant management
practices banned by Segal were prohibited before he issued his order.
The ruling "supports current practices," Jacobs said. "The
L.A. Zoo does not use bull hooks and has no plan to utilize them in the
daily management of our elephants."
However, Jacobs said zoo officials disagree with the court's criticisms of the elephant care program.
"As the people who provide the day-to-day care for these
animals, we are competent in what we do and dedicated to the well-being
of our elephants," he said.
Leider and the late actor Robert Culp filed the lawsuit in
August 2007. Culp, known for starring opposite Bill Cosby in "I Spy,"
died in March 2010.

Deputy City Attorney John
Carvalho argued that the elephant exhibit was a model for other zoos to
follow. But Casselman said Los Angeles Zoo elephants die at an earlier
age that in zoos elsewhere in North America; that keepers there have
poor record-keeping practices; and that the facility does not have
enough qualified veterinarians.
He said the exhibit's lone male elephant, Billy, a 27-year-old
born in Malaysia, is in a heightened state of sexual arousal -- known
as "musth" -- for much of the year, but cannot follow his instincts to
travel long distances in search of mates and has had limited contact
with other pachyderms since being brought to the zoo many years ago.
In his ruling, Segal cited the testimony of plaintiff's
witness Joyce Poole, who he called one of the world's leading experts on
elephant behavior. Poole testified that she observed Billy and his
fellow exhibit residents, Tina and Jewel, during two visits.

"She believes that Billy's behavior of head-bobbing and
rocking is strong evidence that Billy is stressed, frustrated, bored,
unanimated and unhappy and that the zoo is not meeting his needs," Segal
wrote.
Poole also said Tina and Jewel exhibit the same head-bobbing
and rocking and that she had not seen as much of it among other
elephants in nearly 40 years of studying the animals.
In response to Poole's comments, the city offered the
testimony of the Los Angeles Zoo's senior elephant keeper, Victoria
Guarnett. But Segal said Guarnett's "training, education and experience
with elephants ... pale in comparison with Dr. Poole's. She has no
experience with elephants in the wild or with elephants in any zoo or
other facility than the Los Angeles Zoo." "WHAT'S DR. POOLE'S EXPERIENCE WITH CAPTIVE ELEPHANTS, EXCLUDING A SANCTUARY? WHAT DOES WILD HORSES ON THE PLAINS, HAVE TO DO WITH HORSES IN A STALL AND STABLE?"

He also wrote that Guarnett had "somewhat shocking gaps in her
knowledge of elephants and, for someone with the title of senior
elephant keeper, had some surprising misconceptions" -- including the
false belief that head-bobbing is a sign of happiness like a dog wagging
its tail.
Tina and Jewel, estimated to be between 37 and 44 years old,
are on loan from the San Diego Zoo and arrived after the exhibit was
expanded. Casselman alleged they and Billy are all under-exercised and
suffer from predictable health problems.
Carvalho denied the allegations and said the three receive
"dedicated, loving and well-managed case." He said the two females once
lived in an abusive environment in Texas that is in stark contrast to
their environment today.

The city's attorney also
said alternative sites that Leider suggested for housing the elephants
outside the zoo all had shortcomings. He also denied that Billy suffers
from isolation at the Los Angeles Zoo.
In May 2008, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge John Shepard
Wiley dismissed the case, but in September 2009, a three-judge panel of
the 2nd District Court of Appeal ordered it sent back for trial.
In 2010, Wiley denied Leider's request for an injunction to
prevent the opening of the elephant exhibit expansion. Segal was given
the case after Wiley was reassigned to another courthouse.
Fourteen elephants have died at the zoo since the 1966 exhibit opened, Casselman said.
One Los Angeles Zoo elephant, Tara, died in December 2004 of
arthritis, and another, Gita, died in June 2006 of systemic infections
due to arthritis, just after the City Council was assured that she was
in good health.

"I think the first thing is to check into this judge's history. This stinks of political motivation, like nothing I have seen. $42 million dollars for a facility and it isn't good enough????? I don't think he want's it to even exist. You show business folks think you get picked on? While we are at it someone need's to look into judge candy ass from Florida who decreed no more riding Killer Whales."

Posted by
Wade G. Burck

2 comments:

I wonder if these people would be opposed for me using a chain and nylon martingale for my old Shiba Inu dog. Because of course, that must be related to her circling behavior. It'd be much better for her to slip out of a normal dog collar. *rolls eyes*

Meaghan, Thus far, an elephant is the only animal that has handling/control restrictions placed on it. Activists and field research "experts" fully understand that without a hook, there is no way to control or handle an elephant. That's why they have gone to such extremes to portray it as an "evil instrument." Just a small step in the elimination of elephant training and handling. They chip away a piece at a time.

Buckles Woodcock stated it eloquently:

Buckles said...

Christ, a multi-million dollar decision made on the strength of "Billy's" head bobbing. The country deserves bankruptcy!